A
day for Union families
Left, union members and their families enjoy a rollercoaster ride
Sept. 3 at Oaks Amusement Park. This year's Labor Day picnic in
Portland, organized by Northwest Oregon Labor Council, drew a crowd
estimated at over 15,000. The picnic featured the Patrick Lamb Band,
professional wrestling, carnival rides, hot dogs and politicians
paying homage to organize labor.

Senator
Smith makes effort to court labor Oregon Senator
Gordon Smith made his first appearance before affiliates of the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council since winning election in 1996. He has been invited
several times in the past, but has always declined or not responded.Oregon
will release names of employers whose workers get low-income benefits
The state agency that administers food stamps and Medicaid has agreed
to give Oregon lawmakers what some have been seeking for four years:
the names of employers whose workers are getting public assistance.Health
care mandate for construction workers? Portland takes baby steps In
a surprise culmination to a year and a half of on-again, off-again
meetings with several union leaders, Portland City Commissioner Sam
Adams introduced a council resolution Aug. 22 that was almost nothing
like what had been discussed.Panel
will measure use of academic part-timers
American Federation of Teachers-Oregon counted a small victory Aug.
28 in a years-long campaign against overuse of part-time college faculty.
A state panel will study of just how much universities and community
colleges use part-time faculty. AFT has seen a steady shift away from
permanent full-time tenure-track faculty and toward term-to-term and
part-time low-wage and low-benefit instructors. City
of Portland pledges to buy no sweatshop apparel
The City of Portland added its name to the list of “sweat-free”
governments Aug. 29 when City Council approved a resolution backed
by a coalition of unions and community groups.AFSCME
reaches tentative deal for 4,000 state workers American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Employees Oregon Council 75 has reached
a tentative agreement on behalf of some 4,000 employees at the State
of Oregon. The two-year agreement includes a 3 percent cost-of-living
adjustment retroactive to July 1 and a 3.2 percent COLA on Nov. 1,
2008. Meeting
in Newport, building trades unions savor legislative victoriesConstruction
union officials celebrated a successful legislative session Aug. 21-24
at the annual convention of the Oregon State Building and Construction
Trades Council.Carpenters
organizer allowed to leave U.S. on his ownA
federal immigration case against a local union organizer came to a
close last month. Mexican national José Cobián, known
to friends by his assumed name José Luis Mendoza, was allowed
to leave the United States on his own rather than be forcibly deported.Labor
Democrats back Merkley for SenateOregon Labor Commissioner
Dan Gardner and six state legislators who are labor union members
announced their support for Jeff Merkley for the U.S. Senate in the
May 2008 Democratic primary.